2003 House Clark “Simpson” Awards

The Academy Awards ​

House Clark Awards ​

Best Picture
CHICAGO
Gangs of New York
The Hours
LOTR -the Two Towers
The Pianist
 
Best Actor
ADRIEN BRODY – The Pianist
Nicolas Cage – Adaption
Michael Caine- The Quiet American
Daniel Day-Lewis – Gangs of New York
Jack Nicholson – About Schmidt
 
Best Actress
NICOLE KIDMAN – The Hours
Salma Hayek – Frida
Diane Lane – Unfaithful
Julianne Moore – Far from Heaven
Renee Zellwegger – Chicago

Best Picture
THE BOURNE IDENTITY 
Catch Me if you Can 
Road to Perdition 
LOTR – Two Towers 
Spider-Man

Best Actor
MATT DAMON – The Bourne Identity
Tom Hanks – Road to Perdition
Leonardo DiCaprio – Catch Me if you Can
Paul Newman - Road to Perdition
Willem Dafoe – Spider-Man

Best Actress
FRANKA POTENTE – The Bourne Identity
Emily Watson – Punch-Drunk Love
Rebecca Romijn – Femme Fatale
Kirsten Dunst – Spider-Man
Catherine Zeta-Jones - Chicago

Most Annoying Performance 
RICHARD GERE – Chicago   
                                                                                                               
Best Comedy   
My Big Fat Greek Wedding    
                                               
Best Ensemble Cast  
LOTR – Two Towers – Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Brad Dourif, Bernard Hill, Christopher Lee, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, Miranda Otto, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, Karl Urban, Hugo Weaving.   
                                                                                                               
WTF did I just see?
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind    
 
Most overrated movie  
The Pianist   
 
Best juvenile performances
Abigail Breslin, age 6; Rory Culkin, age 13 - Signs

Notes from awards committee:

Our top motion picture of the year is The Bourne Identity, an outstanding action/adventure film that was totally snubbed by the Academy. This is the first, and our favorite, of the Jason Bourne trilogy. Everything in the movie is executed with style and polish. And it has all the classic elements of the modern secret agent – assassin genre including a deliciously subversive anti-government element. Best Actor Simpson is awarded to Matt Damon. Mr. Damon is perfect as the brooding, dangerous Jason Bourne battling both amnesia and CIA killers on his trail. Miss Franka Potente is the _Bourne Girl_ and she does not disappoint. She is not the traditional glamour-girl leading actress type, but more of the innocent girl-next-door. The love chemistry kicks in between her and Matt Damon, and the sparks fly. It is a pleasure to correct yet another Academy mistake and award the Best Actress Simpson to Miss Potente.  
 
We have the entire Bourne trilogy on DVD, and Bourne Identity is probably the most rewatched disk out of our entire collection of hundreds of DVDs. Excellent nonstop entertainment.  ​

Fun Surprises -

My Big Fat Greek Wedding – Romance + likeable characters + delightful humor = Box Office Gold. This indie film grossed over $240 million; all for a budget of $5 million. I would love to see that happen more often.
 
Catch Me If You Can – A rather lighthearted crime film based on the true story of con man, Frank Abagnale. Leonardo DiCaprio perfectly brings the main character to life on the big screen, so that the audience can understand and even like a criminal felon. This is tricky work and not for amateur actors. Tom Hanks plays a determined FBI agent on his trail, and Christopher Walken turns in a polished, striking performance as Frank’s beloved father. Film keeps a brisk pace, and has a few good laughs. Spielberg lovingly recreates the jet age of the 1960s.
 
Road to Perdition - It is very rare for a film to be filled with outstanding performances by multiple A-list actors. This is one of them. Equally amazing is that the actors are, more often than not, acting against type. The story is dark & grim, there is no humor, no romance, and it is emotionally cold. None of the main characters are good guys, but this is as it should be in a movie about violent American gangsters in the wild and crazy Prohibition era.  
 
Disappointments -

Chicago – the film tackled the question that nobody asked, “How well can women in prison on death row dance and sing?” Catherine Zeta-Jones delivered a flashy and exciting performance, but she could not save this odd musical by herself. Richard Gere is terribly miscast as a dancing lawyer with two left feet.  
The Pianist - Like so many other mediocre films, The Pianist is a movie that is quickly forgotten and not worth watching again. Ever. And, here we go again with the evil Nazis - and the Holocaust - to make it Oscar-bait.
Far from heaven - This hateful view of the Fifties and of American suburbia is neither original, accurate, not even interesting. It's the conventional foolishness of Hollywood.  
The Hours – Three women deal with suicides. Really? Who would pay money to watch this kind of mental punishment?
Gangs of New York - a bleak, fake, blood-soaked vision of American history with a cast of unlikeable characters in a painfully long three hour movie. The fan boys rave about Bill “The Butcher” played by Daniel Day-Lewis, but other than being the biggest, meanest bully on the block, why do we care about him? 

2004 Awards

2002 Awards